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FIRST LESSONS IN REALITY, 



OR, 



THE PSYCHICAL BASIS 



OF 



PHYSICAL HEALTH. 






BY THE WRITER OF 

PERSONIFIED UNTHIN K ABLES. 




^^^ 






DETROIT: 

JOHN F. I'BY & CO., PRINTERS. 
1886. ■ 







\A 



. COPYRIGHT 



S'. S. GRIMKfi 
1886. 



PREFACE. 



The following lessons are now given to the pub- 
lic without the slightest alteration, just as they were 
prepared, and taught by correspondence to a few 
friends and fellow seekers after Truth. 

Although it would seem desirable, because of 
their somewhat mystical nature, to attempt to fortify 
them against misconception, yet experience has 
taught that the attempt would, after all, but court 
the very danger to be avoided. 

To interpret them too literally will be to lose their 
essence. On the other hand, not to discern the vital 
relation between the ideas herein expressed, and the 
symbols embodying them, will be equally fatal to 
their true apprehension; for the terms employed are 
not as one might suppose merely fanciful, figurative, 
poetic, etc., but are used because they express the 
dual unity of Thought and Symbol. 

To have a knowledge of facts is one thing, but 
to grasp the relation of these facts to each other, is 
quite another thing. One mind can help another in 
the former case, but in the latter each soul must 
discern relations for itself. This discerning must be 
inborn, it cannot be imparted. One cannot discern 
a relation for another any more than a joke can be 
appreciated vicariously. So in these lessons Thought 
and Symbol have been placed in juxtaposition, the 
insight into their relation must be left to the Soul in 
travail with Truth. 

Los Angeles, California, 
July, 188(5. 



"Wisdom 
Red 




SYNOPSIS. 



Introduction — The Staff. 



I. REFLECTION. 

f Visible. f Hunger. 

Ray-ment 1 Audible. Food < Eating. 

(^ Tangible. ( Assimilating. 



II. REFRACTION. 

{Proportion. f Ray. 

Door. Hearth-fire < Images. 

Hearth. (^ Law. 



Conclusion — The Wall. 



FIRST LESSON IN REALITY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

THE STAFF. 

One end of a staff implies another end. I can- 
not (as tradition relates of a certain Hibernian 
philosopher) cut off one end from my staff, and 
then have only one end left. I may thus reduce 
the size of my staff, but while it holds out it con- 
tinues to have two ends, Neither do the two ends 
remain after the staff has gone. The staff and its 
ends are real, or polar opposites, which mutually 
imply each other, which are utterly meaningless 
and unthinkable apart. 

However, although I cannot detach the staff 
from its ends, nor the ends from the staff, yet I 
can distinguish between them. One end is not the 
other end. The head is not the foot of the staff, 
neither is the foot the head. There must, there- 
fore, be some invisible point of union between the 
two. A point which is neither the one end nor the 
other, but where the two are one. This invisible 
centre I take to be the point of equilibrium. I, 
therefore, balance my staff until I find this point. 
Now but one thing remains io make my staff living, 



INTRODUCTION. 



to turn the rod into a serpent, and that is motion. 
The motion of my staff about its invisible centre is 
circular, a form of spiral. Spiral is from the Latin 
spira, Greek (rnecpa, meaning breath, coil, spire, etc. 
Spirit is from the same word. Motion is, accord- 
ingly, the breath of life. 

The staff as a whole expresses Unity/ as com- 
posed of polar opposites it is a Duality / as polar 
opposites and point of equilibrium, a Trinity / as 
living it manifests a Quarterni, — the sacred Quar- 
terni of Pythagoras. 

The two ends of the staff, as visible, symbolize 
the phenomenal, or terrestrial portions of this Quar- 
terni. Point of equilibrium, and motion, as invis- 
ible, symbolize the more real and celestial elements. 

Having learned this much of the nature of the 
rod, I wish to know what use I am to make of it in 
the study of Reality. Finding that the words real^ 
ray, thing and thought are all derived from the 
word meaning Rod, I conclude that Reality is 
Rod-ality, and that to spare the rod, in this study 
of Reality, would be to spoil the child. 

Accordingly, my staff, whether I take it as a rod 
of light, or as a type of all vegetation, from the 
blade of grass to the tallest tree, symbolizes to me 
an invisible and more real rod of thing and Ray 
of Thought. 



LESSON II 

KAY-MENT-VISIBLE. 



If, when standing beside a body of water, I 
chance to see the form of a cloud mirrored in 
golden and rosy tints upon its surface, I am not 
deceived by the picture. Beautiful as it is, I know 
that it is but a reflection of a cloud in the sky, far 
above my head, which I do not see as long as my 
attention is directed to the cloud upon the water. 
I know that, although I thus distinguish between 
the cloud upon the water and the cloud in the 
sky, I cannot separate the one from the other. I 
cannot detach the cloud upon the water from the 
one in the sky, and still have my picture upon the 
water after the picture in the sky has drifted away 
beyond the horizon. 

Still further, I know that as my cloud upon the 
water depends upon the cloud in the sky, so they 
both depend upon the light from the sun, and that 
while my picture upon the water is simply a reflec- 
tion produced by the action of rays of light and 
the reaction of the surface of the water, so the pic- 
ture in the sky is a refraction produced by the 
action of rays of light and a reaction of vapor in 



10 RAY-MENT VISIBLE. 

the atmosphere. My cloud celestial, and my cloud 
terrestrial, are each a Ray-ment (rod-men t) resulting 
from an action and a reaction. 

But if I cannot separate the refracted picture 
from the reflected picture, then there must be some 
invisible point of union between the two, a centre 
of equilibrium between the action implied in the 
term refraction, and the reaction implied in the 
term reflection, a point which is neither celestial 
or terrestrial, but where the two are One. 

Looking again upon the w T ater I behold my face 
reflected upon its surface, and then call to mind 
the fact that my own face I have never seen ; its 
reflected image is alb that I ever have seen, or can 
see. Now the reflected face upon the water is cer- 
tainly only a ray-ment produced by the action of 
rays of light and the reaction of the surface of the 
water, and if, what I have hitherto considered my 
real face is only a ray-ment produced by an action 
and a reaction, the fact that it has never occurred to 
me proves nothing against its truth, especially when 
I remember that since real and ray are the same in 
derivation, from the meaning of the words, my 
real face is my ray face. 

Turning my attention to my body, I conclude 
that if my face is ray-ment my whole body is ray- 
ment, produced by an invisible action and reaction. 
If, then, this terrestrial body or ray-ment is like my 



KA Y-MENT VISIBLE. 1 1 

cloud terrestrial, simply an inverted reflect of my- 
celestial ray-ment, the fact that I have never con- 
sciously recognized my celestial ray-ment proves 
nothing against its existence, for while my atten- 
tion was directed exclusively to my cloud floating 
upon the water, I became for the time being 
entirely oblivious of the cloud above my head 
which I could not see. 

But if this terrestrial ray-ment is only an inverted 
reflect of a true and celestial ray-ment, then I am 
possessor of an heritage hitherto unknown ; for, 
like the two clouds, they cannot be separated, they 
are real (ray) or polar opposites which mutually 
imply each other, which are utterly meaningless 
and impossible apart. Now if my consciousness 
has been located, hitherto, solely within the reflected 
image of my true self, then I am a slave bound 
down, by my own ignorance, to chains of sense and 
suffering. But with this recognition of my serf- 
dom I also see clearly the way of escape. There 
must be an invisible point of union between the 
two, and I must locate my consciousness at that 
invisible centre of equilibrium between my refracted 
and my reflected self, the point which is neither 
celestial nor terrestrial, but where the two are One. 

The question of how to emancipate my conscious- 
ness from its inverted reflection and to locate ir at. 
its true and invisible centre, is the most momentous 



12 RAY-MENT VISIBLE. 

in the universe. It involves the meaning and 
object of existence. It is the problem of all times, 
that of the perfectibility and immortality of the 
soul. Of the soul, for this earthly consciousness 
is but the inverted reflection of my true conscious- 
ness, which is the same thing as soul. These first 
lessons in Reality, then, are first steps in the path 
of Rodality, — a straight and narrow ray of light ! 

Turning, therefore, to my staff, I state the prob- 
lem in terms of rod. The two visible ends are ter- 
restrial ray-ments ; the head of the staff is the body ; 
the foot of the staff is the purely finite or earthly 
mind; the point of equilibrium, or the invisible 
centre, where body and sensations are one, is con- 
sciousness ; motion, the breath of life, completes 
this Quarternio 

Consciousness and motion symbolize the refracted 
or celestial elements of the Quarterni. Body and 
finite mind, the terrestrial portions. 

Body is the strictly visible member of this Quar- 
terni. And body, again, as a whole, is four-fold, 
corresponding in structure to the four elements. 
The solids of the body (bones, tissues, etc.) corre- 
spond to earth. Heat, the agent of the functions 
especially connected with solids and between solids 
and liquids, corresponds to the second element, or 
fire. Secretions of the body correspond to the 
third element, or water, while breath is the fourth 
element, or air. 



RAY-MENT — VISIBLE. 13 

The action of respiration and the reaction of 
secretions form an upper dualism, and to destroy, 
e. ff., the balance between the action of the lungs 
and the reaction of the blood, would instantly pro- 
duce violent and even fatal results, from which the 
visible body would soon pass to the realm of the 
invisible. 

The action of heat and the secretion of tissues 
form a lower dualism, and to destroy the balance 
between heat and tissues would likewise produce a 
wasting away of the visible body. 

Now the harmonious equilibrium between these 
upper and lower dualisms is what is ordinarily 
termed physical health, and if, as I have already 
decided, equilibrium of body is simply a reflect of 
a celestial or soul equilibrium, then the basis of 
physical health is purely psychical. 

But as long as my consciousness is located within 
my body, body rules soul, whereas body should be 
simply raiment (ray-ment) for my true conscious- 
ness. 

Again, this raiment for my soul must be like all 
rays, or, like my staff. It must have two ends and 
a central point. I, therefore, regard the Visible as 
the head of my staff, the Audible as the foot, and 
the Tangible as the point which is neither visible 
nor audible, but where the two are one. 



LESSON III. 

RAY-ME^TT- AUDIBLE. 



Once, by means of an aperture in a shutter, and 
a prism, I tried to detach a raj of sunlight from 
the sun, and shut it up within a dark room. It 
arranged itself in beautiful colors upon the wall, 
but when the sun went, the ray went too. So with 
each step in this study of Ray-ality I am confronted 
with the impossibility and unthinkability of any 
such thing as separateness. Thus, by means of 
refraction and reflection, combined according to 
definite numeral conditions, light becomes visible; 
also, by means of refraction and reflection combined 
according to definite numeral conditions, breath 
becomes audible y yet breath and light cannot be 
separated, for light without breath or motion would 
not be light, would not exist at all. 

Still, although I cannot separate visible rays from 
audible rays, yet I must distinguish between them 
in order to reach an understanding of them. As a 
first step in distinguishing between visible and 
audible rays, I turn my attention to the numeral 
conditions according to which all external mani- 
festation takes place. And in order to study 



RAY-MENT — AUDIBLE. 15 

numbers, I regard them as visible numerals and as 
irivisible numerals. 

The visible numerals are three, viz., the point, 
and the two forms of the line, or, the straight line 
and the crooked line. When I draw a picture on 
a piece of paper, I use the three visible numerals. 
But in order to complete the manifestation, to 
make my picture living, there must be the light 
spaces of the paper to bring it out. A moment's 
reflection convinces me that the whole visible 
universe is pictured out to my vision solely by 
means of the three visible numerals in space. All 
the infinite variety is but gradation and combina- 
tion of these primary numbers. The horizon gives 
me the perfect circle. The line from the zenith to 
my feet is the straight line. The outlines of the 
clouds present a loose combination of the straight 
and the crooked lines, while the rocks, trees, etc., 
of the earth's surface, display a more minute and 
compact combination of the two forms of line. 
Geometry, or the art of measuring the earth, as 
well as the whole science of Astronomy, depend 
upon these visible numerals, and with this thought 
comes to me the meaning of these visible numerals. 
The point symbolizes the centre of the two forms 
of line, or the point which is neither the straight 
line nor the crooked line, but where the two are 
one. Again, the straight line symbolizes the form 



16 RAY-MENT AUDIBLE. 

of force which strikes out from the center, termed 
in science the centrifugal y while the crooked line 
symbolizes the form of force which draws back to 
the centre, termed centripetal. Thus is all visible 
but the type of an invisible force — a force which is 
dual in its action, and its dual action being balanced 
at a central point which is neither centrifugal nor 
centripetal, but where the two are one. And if 
this balance were overcome by either form of force, 
the visible universe would vanish like a shadow. 

Just as the art of measuring deals with the 
visible numerals, so the art of counting or number- 
ing treats of the invisible numerals. All counting 
is based on the Quarterni, 1, 2, 3, 4. Their sum is 
10, ten tens are 100, and so on to infinity. All the 
operations of arithmetic are also based on the first 
four, viz., addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
division. But counting cannot be separated from 
something to count. The elements which comprise 
the earth's surface and atmosphere combine only 
according to count. Take e. g. the two invisible 
gases, oxygen and hydrogen. They combine and 
form water only according to the number two. 
And, moreover, this combination is audible at the 
instant at which it becomes visible. 

This number two holds the balance of power. It 
represents the point which is neither oxygen nor 
hydrogen, but where the two are one, and I have 






R A Y-MENT A UDIBLE . 1 7 

only to overcome this polarity to cause the visible - 
water to vanish into two invisible gases. But what 
is true of water is true of all compounds comprising 
the earth's surface. Destroy the numeral condition 
and the visible vanishes. Even the diamond, the 
hardest known substance, heated in oxygen gas, 
burns to carbonic acid, and carbonic acid at the 
ordinary atmospheric temperature is a transparent, 
colorless gas. 

In order to determine the relation of measuring 
to counting, I turn to my imprisoned ray of sun- 
light, pictured on the wall in seven different colors, 
viz.: 

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. 
__ __ _ _ _____ _____ __ 

Now, the odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7, are certainly 
different gradations of refraction from the white 
back to the white, completing the circle. But 2, 
or orange, which is between red and yellow, reflects 
both red and yellow, and is thus a mixture or com- 
pound of the two. Again, _, or green, reflects both 
yellow and blue ; 6, or indigo, reflects both blue 
and violet. Thus I see that the odd numbers 1, 3, 
5, 7, signify different gradations of the centrifugal 
force, or straight line, while the even numbers _. 
4, 6, are gradations of the centripetal force, or 
crooked line. Counting expresses gradations of 
measuring. 



18 RAY-MENT AUDIBLE. 

But what is true of the seven colors is equally 
true of the seven notes : 

12 3 4 5 6 7 

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Yiolet. 

CD E F G A B 

<j,e,g,b are different gradations of refraction from 
the octave to the octave, while ©,1,1 are reflected 
tones, corresponding in quality to the colors they 
represent. 

The exquisite primary chord 1, 3, 5, or C, E, G, 
is Red, Yellow and Blue manifested to my con- 
sciousness through my ear instead of my eye. So 
every conceivable chord and combination of tone 
and color can be written out in figures, until I am 
led to exclaim : Sound is color made audible ; and 
color is sound made visible ! My eye and my ear 
are avenues to my consciousness of the two halves 
of a unity. In order to determine whether the 
sense of touch is the avenue to my consciousness of 
ilio unity of the two halves, I next give my atten- 
tion to the Tangible. 



LESSON IV. 

RAY-ME^T-TA^GIBLE. 



I might have been born blind, and yet been able 
to determine the meaning, the harmony, and to a 
certain degree, even the color of objects about me, 
by means of touch. I might have been born deaf, 
and yet been able to determine the meaning of 
words, and the harmonies of sound from touch and 
sight. I might have been born with only the sense 
of touch, yet have attained to a higher and truer 
knowledge of the world in which I live than many 
about me endowed with five senses. 

But without the sense of touch I could not main- 
tain my terrestrial existence. When feeling goes, 
life of the visible body goes too. Touch is, then, 
the vital sense of the terrestrial body. 

When I push my hand against a stone, or thrust 
it into water, or pass it through the air, I am con- 
scious of different degrees of resistance. And I 
classify objects about me according to the different 
degrees of resistance which they offer to my touch. 
The air, when it offers no resistance to my touch, is 
unperceived, so without resistance there is no touch. 

But what is resistance? Resistance is simply 



20 RAY-MENT TANGIBLE. 

force, an invisible action and reaction, which is 
expressed by, and can be determined from, num- 
bers, e. g., the resistance of water is expressed by 
the number 2. I have only to overcome the polar- 
ity or equilibrium expressed by this numeral to 
render the water, which was tangible, tangible no 
longer. 

But what can be done in the case of water is also 
possible in the case of the most seemingly immov- 
able solids of the earth. By means of burning 
glasses the sun's rays can be collected to a central 
point, or focus, and heat obtained sufficient to 
change solid rocks into liquid flames. And thus I 
come to realize that the tangible is tangible only 
according to certain definite conditions which cor- 
respond exactly with the conditions according to 
which the Visible is visible and the Audible is 
audible. 

Upon comparing the three forms of ray-ment 
still further, I am convinced that the visible, and 
the audible, likewise, are perceivable by me, only 
by means of Resistance. The one is resistance of 
light vibrations, or radiations, and the other is 
resistance of breath vibrations, or radiations. So 
that sight and sound can be said to be forms of 
Touch. Touch thus represents the point where 
sight and sound are one. 

All sensation may then be called touch, or Resist- 



RAY-MENT TANGIBLE. 21 

(mice expressed in different degrees. The sense of 
touch (ordinarily so called) expresses the first 
degree, or most actual and living contact; sound, 
the second degree ; vision, the third degree, or 
most remote and external contact. 

Thus, to hear and see flames may affect me very 
agreeably, but the effect of touch would be quite 
the contrary. Yet the flames come in contact with 
my consciousness as truly in the one case as in the 
other. 

The fact of the unity of sensation is well illus- 
trated in the case of a child. It is never satisfied 
with simply looking at an object. It must see 
with its fingers as well as its eyes. And shakes 
or drops the object in order to see with its ears 
also. 

Now since I have decided that this terrestrial 
ray-ment is only an inverted reflect of a celestial 
ray-ment, or thoughtment, I must strictly apply 
this fact in the case of sensation. 

This resistance, comprised under the three forms 
of visible, audible and tangible sensation ; this 
purely terrestrial touch ; this my means of com- 
munication with the external world, or terrestrial 
minds about me, is simply an inverted reflect of 
a higher sense of Touch, of a Resistance to an 
interior or celestial world of Thoughts and Minds 
(since thoughts imply minds). 



22 RAY-MENT TANGIBLE. 

If I have hitherto been entirely unconscious of 
this interior three-fold sense, it is because my atten- 
tion has-been so taken up solely with external resist- 
ance that the interior resistance has been unobserved. 

But when I do observe this interior resistance I 
find that, in its development, my experience corre- 
sponds to that of the child in the case of its exterior 
sensation. I see first with my fingers. This is 
the interpretation of bodily suffering. Body first 
responds to this thought resistance. But as I 
advance in knowledge and acquire this thought 
resistance through the other avenues of touch, 
thought vibrations, or radiations, which, like the 
flames, now cause me acute suffering, will become 
a source of most wonderful knowledge and under- 
standing as soon as I can hear them and see them, 
instead of simply feeling them. Then, what now 
prostrates me with physical suffering will become 
to me the greatest possible source of power and 
wisdom. 

But before I can raise my interior and true sense 
of touch to the celestial plane, I must first pass 
through a terrestrial plane of thought. I am 
encompassed round about by a dense atmosphere 
of absorbing cares , in traffic, and in social and 
political life. I must feel my way through this 
earthly atmosphere before I can reach a higher 
realm of Thought. First, I feel my way with 



R A Y-MENT TANGIBLE. 2 3 

touch in the first degree, which means suffering ; . 
second, with touch in the second degree, by means 
of which I begin to observe a harmony and meaning 
in the confused din and squabble about me ; and 
finally, with touch in the third degree, whence my 
eyes are gradually opened, and seeing for the first 
time in my life, I come to know how to see less 
witli my fingers and more with my ears and my 
eyes. 

Thus I come to discern the relation of terrestrial 
body and mind to celestial body and mind. 

Reflected body and its three-fold sense is simply 
raiment, or garment, or visible expression for the 
celestial body, or soul. 

Finite, or earthly, or reflected mind is the food 
or nourishment for the soul, by means of which the 
soul after hungering, eating and assimilating the 
husks of finite thought, returns to its Father's 
house, to be fed with the heavenly bread and staff 
of life, and to enter upon the celestial heritage. 

This great truth of my celestial heritage is first 
refracted to my consciousness through the tear- 
drops of suffering, then afterwards refected, by 
means of numbers and harmony, to my vision. 

Touch is the refractory medium through which 
the Divine Ray\s transmitted to my consciousness, 
while the medium refracts outwardly, the Ray is a 



24 RAY-MENT — TANGIBLE. 

rod of correction, but when it refracts back toward 
its celestial source, it is the staff which comforts. 

The Tangible is thus the point of equilibrium 
between the Visible and the Audible, the vital 
point of radiation, while radiation itself, or motion, 
changes sensation from the plane of reflected body 
to the plane of reflected Intellect, or to the second 
spire or coil of the Serpent. 



LESSON V. 

FOOD-HUNGER. 



The polar opposite of touch is desire ; and, 
although touch and desire cannot be separated the 
one from the other, yet I at once observe a very 
important and significant distinction. Touch, I 
cannot disconnect from bodily sensation ; Desire, I 
cannot disconnect from mind — the purely finite or 
reflected mind. 

Bodily sensation brings me in contact with the 
infinite wonders of the phenomenal universe, and 
spontaneous with this contact occurs the desire to 
experience and to know the reality back of this 
phenomenal — its meaning, and its purpose. 

The way by which I am to reach this experience 
and knowledge is, obviously, very direct, if I but 
follow the straight and narrow path already marked 
out, viz., as the phenomenal is an inverted and 
left-sided copy of the real ; as external sensation 
also bears this relation to interior sensation, then 
must the desire connected with external sensation 
be also only an inverted and left-sided copy of a 
Desire which is interior, or esoteric. In other 
words, the interior sense of touch implies the eso- 



26 FOOD HUNGER. 

teric desire, just as external touch implies external 
desire. 

In order to reach this esoteric desire, I ^must, 
indeed, start from the coterie desire. I must 
possess myself of the knowledge which only can be 
bought by experience, and which comes from direct 
contact with the phenomenal. But I must accept 
the experience of sensation and desire only as a 
means of knowing reality — the coterie must always 
be my ladder to the coterie. 

The Visible must simply reflect to me images of 
objects which in themselves are entirely beyond my 
range of sight ; from the Audible I must learn to 
detect the counts of the Still Voice / while the rod 
of the Tangible, with its two ends of pleasure and 
pain, must truly 

" Feed full my sense for a while;" 

until balancing the rod and finding the point of 
equilibrium between pleasure and pain, I attain to 

the interior vision, 

" The sight that my soul yearns after." 

To refuse the experiences of bodily sensation and 
desire is to refuse ray-men t and food to the soul ; 
and thus to deprive the soul of its only means of 
development toward final perfection. 

But, to be deceived by these images — to accept 
the mere reflections for the realities themselves — is 



FOOD — HUNGER. 27 

the fundamental error, or, in other words, the fatal 
si?i of Idolatry. No matter whether I call it error, 
or whether I call it sin, the thing in itself, indepen- 
dent of what I may call it, is Idolatry. 

Therefore, although I must diligently till the soil 
of this terrestrial ray-men t and its sensations, the 
fruit must not be consecrated to the idols them- 
selves, but must be brought as an offering and 
sacrificed to the true desire of soul. 

Now, if I say the irrevocable penalty of Idolatry 
is Disease and Death, I but state in other words 
the fact that Disease and Death are logical results 
of calling inverted shadows the entities they are 
not and cannot be. 

The fact in itself acts quite independent of what- 
ever I may choose to call it. Idolatry is not 
pacified with the term sin any more than by the 
word error. 

As long as I am an Idolator, I am subject to dis- 
ease and death in spite of the creed to which I may 
subscribe, in spite of the benevolence and morality 
I may practice, or even in spite of the drugs I may 
swallow and the laws of hygiene I may observe. 

Nor is this death penalty of Idolatry canceled 
with once meeting its decrees; on the contrary, it 
means innumerable deaths for me, until, by my own 
insight, I renounce the Idolatry of shadow worship, 
and turn to the Living liay-ality. 



28 FOOD — HUNGER. 

Yet the requisite insight, together with the 
necessary power of choice, do not reside in the 
finite mind itself. They cannot be separated from 
it, but their true seat is in the soul. 

That consciousness possessed by the finite mind 
and its desires (hungers), together with its seeming 
power of choice, are but illusory reflects of Soul 
(true consciousness), and true Freedom. Soul is 
the true Ego, while the consciousness possessed by 
finite mind and its desires is reflected ego. So also 
in this power of choice which I possess, I must 
distinguish between a true and a reflected Freedom. 

Now, this true ego is the central point of my 
four-fold system as a whole ; body is raiment to this 
ego, and, just as I must needs have many garments 
in the course of my earth life, so must the true ego 
require innumerable robes in its long course of 
development toward perfection. Finite mind is 
food to the true ego, and also, just as my finite 
mind and its hungers is not in itself developed by 
one meal of victuals, so the true ego requires for 
its nourishment during its long process of growth 
the food supplied by innumerable finite existences. 
In other words, the true ego is only developed by 
means of innumerable re-incar nations. Herein is 
the mystery of birth and death. 

So long as the desire clings to its idols of sense — 
to its shadow pursuits, to its shadow possessions of 



FOOD — HUNGER. 29 

raiment, food, houses and lands, and its shadow 
pleasures, just so long must I pay the penalty of 
repeated birth and death. 

But when this desire turns toward Reality with 
the unspeakable tenacity wdth which it formerly 
clung to the shadowy reflects of Reality, and as 
persistently follows the study of Reality as it has 
pursued pleasure, then will I begin to attain to that 
msight into the mystery of birth and death which 
will ultimately free me from these shadows, and 
enable me to realize the Health which is Whole- 
ness, and the Life w^hich is Eternal. 

Of my staff of finite mind, desire is the head ; 
and just as the staff must follow the course of the 
head in its revolutions, so the coterie desire leads 
the whole staff in downward spirals to the very 
depths of the shadows ; but the coterie desire leads 
in upward spirals toward the celestial light. 

As the polar opposite of desire is action, action 
must then be the foot of my staff of finite mind. 

But esoteric desire of the finite mind is only 
another term for hunger of soul, and just as desire 
implies action, so hunger implies eating. 

Esoteric desire and action of the finite mind are 
hunger and eating of the true Ego. 



LESSON VI. 

FOOD-EATING. 



Since desire is either true desire or reflected 
desire, exoteric or esoteric, then must the action 
implied by desire be either exoteric action or 
esoteric action. 

Accordingly, studying action as dual, as true 
action and reflected action, I first observe that the 
two forms must, of necessity, be exactly contradic- 
tory. This is implied in the relation itself of a 
reflect to the object it reflects. Action on the 
plane of finite thought moves in a diametrically 
opposite direction from action on the plane of the 
celestial. And as long as the finite acts uncon- 
scious of the higher plane, which it simply con- 
tradicts (reflects), that power of choice which I 
seem to possess is, in truth, the exact contradic- 
tory of choice. It is only the choice of the winds 
and the tides, the times and the seasons, which obey 
the hidden law instead of coming and going as they 
themselves may choose. 

As my eyes become opened to the relation of 
exoteric action to esoteric action, as expressed in 
the law of contradictories, the more evident it 



FOOD — EATING. 31 

becomes to me, that the very actions, in the per- 
formance of which I was most certain of perfect 
power of choice, were the very ones in which I had 
absolutely no choice. 

On this plane of the shadows I find that although 
I have eyes I see not, although I have ears yet I 
hear not, and although I act with seeming freedom, 
yet all my acts are contradictory ; what I do with 
my right hand, that my left undoes, and what I 
affirm with my lips, that my heart denies ; when I 
would walk in one direction my feet follow the 
opposite. 

Thus I come to realize that the quality of all my 
action on the finite plan, though seemingly active, 
is, in truth, passive. Accordingly I regard all finite 
action (exoteric action) as in its essence, Passion. 

Again, action is always put forth as a means to 
obtain a given end. It is a reaching out toward, 
accordingly I must regard action as Offering, or 
Oblation, as well as Passion. 

From this it directly follows that all my actions 
which have in view terrestrial aims, pleasures and 
possessions are offerings, or sacrifices made to idols 
(shadows). As long as in my desires I worship 
idols, all my acts must, of necessity, be oblations to 
my idols, for the desire and the act mutually imply 
each other. But, on the other hand, it also directly 
follows that as soon as my desire becomes esoteric 



32 FOOD — EATING. 

all my actions will be offerings to the living Ray- 
ality instead of to shadow idols. 

The ancient myth of Saturn feeding upon his own 
helpless offspring, is, I find, an exact type of my 
true ego, which is sustained and developed to matur- 
ity (im-mortality) by devouring its own reflected 
(mortal) images. 

However, as long as I am an idolator, and my 
desires purely exoteric, I find that I, in my turn, 
act the part of Saturn to all beneath me in the 
plane of shadow. I desire, and seek my own com- 
fort and welfare as paramount. If I am humane it 
is because I am enlightened enough to discern that 
thus I best secure my own ends. And even on the 
plane of body, while I continue to maintain my 
animal life at the expense of my animal kindred, I 
do so without perceiving that I thus have the dis- 
tinctive mark which classifies me with the beast of 
prey tribe. 

I deprive a helpless victim of the birthright to 
life for the sake of a mess of savory pottage, thus 
securing for myself both the birthright and pottage. 
And as 1 analyze my line of conduct still further, 
I find that this one act is a perfect type of every 
act of worldly wisdom and prudence. 

But the instant my desire becomes esoteric, the 
whole line of conduct is reversed and begins to 
move in the opposite direction. Action is no 



FOOD — E A TING . 3 3 

longer sacrifice of the higher to the lower, but 
becomes a series of oblation after oblation of the" 
lower to the higher. Each act is the renunciation 
of a shadow for a true ray. Each step upon the 
ladder by which I mount from the exoteric to the 
esoteric is the crucifixion of a contradictory of 
truth. 

Yet any ascetic practice I may adopt which 
merely aims to restrain the external act, while the 
desire still exists in fu]l force, is as futile a per- 
formance as it would be for me to set myself to 
work to cut off one end of my staff and expect to 
have only one end left. I must not attempt the 
impossible, but must patiently set myself to work 
to balance my staff of desire and action, and not 
being discouraged with repeated failures, persist, 
sustained by the knowledge that the staff can be 
balanced, that there is a point of equilibrium 
between desire and act, and that upon this point I 
can step, in perfect security, to the higher plane. 
But if I try to step upon either end the staff will 
surely tip- It is only the point of equilibrium which 
will sustain my weight. 

These steps are the true sacrifices by means of 
which I attain to my maturity. They are the 
burnt offerings of consumed shadows upon which 
the true ego feeds, until, accumulating the neces- 
sary strength, it will finally free itself wholly from 



34 FOOD — EATING. 

the shadows and enter upon its celestial heritage. 
They are the offspring of Saturn, which will event- 
ually possess themselves of their father's throne 
and power. 

But how w T ill they possess themselves of this 
power ? Hunger and eating are polar opposites ; 
now the equilibrium between hunger and eating, 
or the point where the two are one, is assimilation. 
The strength of my phenomenal body seemingly 
comes from the assimilation which follows eating. 
But this seeming fact is only a reflection of the 
seeming fact that the finite mind obtains its finite 
wisdom from its power of assimilating thought. 
While this seeming fact, in its turn, is but reflection 
of the Truth that the celestial Power of the true 
ego is attained through its assimilation of its own 
esoteric offspring, or its true Sacrifices. 



LESSON VII. 

FOOD-ASSIMILATING. 



On the plane of body, assimilation occurs through 
the secretions, or fluids. On the plane of finite 
mind, the mental picture expresses the point of 
assimilation between mind and thought. 

Now, the relation of finite mind to body is that 
of cause to effect. Finite mind symbolizes action ; 
body, re-action ; and since action and re-action are 
only different terms for refraction and reflection, it 
follows that all operations of body are reflected 
mental operations ; therefore, it also follows that 
all forms and conditions of secretions are reflected 
mental pictures. 

In the case of finite mind, the mental picture is 
expressed outwardly by means of words, spoken or 
written, or through some of the arts. In the case 
of body, the secretions (reflected mental pictures") 
expressed outwardly are bones, muscles, skin, etc. 

Just so in the case of the globe I inhabit — its 
liquids (reflected mental pictures) expressed out- 
wardly are its geological formation, its rocks, 
minerals, etc. 



36 



FOOD ASSIMILATING. 



In order to clearly and fully grasp this relation, I 
will first analyze it by means of my staff, and then 
follow out its application in the case of a word. 

[1.] The word in itself as external (visible or 
audible) is the head of my staff. 

[2.] Its finite or reflected significance and force, 
is the foot of my staff. 

[3.] My experience of the significance and force 
of the word is the point of balance between the 
external word and its internal force ; and this 
experience is of different degrees, from a merely 
blind physical re-action up to the highest form of 
consciousness. 

[4.] The true, celestial force and meaning of a 
word is motion, which completes the Quarterni. 

Now I will apply this analysis in the case of the 
word which is expressed outwardly, or phenomen- 
ally, as arsenic. 

[1.] Arsenic is a weapon of a cold, steel grey 
color, and of a glittering lustre. This metal is the 
visible expression of a reality which on the j)lane 
of finite mind I term Calumny. Arsenic is the 
steel grey, glittering weapon of the assassin 
Calumny, and the metal in itself no more destroys 
than the weapon can slay apart from the hand of 
the assassin. 

Arsenic destroys bodily tissues and functions for 
the very simple reason that it cannot be separated 



FOOD ASSIMILATING. 37 

from the thought which it represents. It cannot 
come in contact with my sense of touch without 
suggesting to my mind, and then to my body, the 
thought of which it is an inverted reflect. It 
makes no difference whether my sense of touch 
comes in contact with the symbol through my 
stomach or through my eyes, it is the thought which 
slays, and not its reflected image. 

Neither does it make the slightest difference in 
the result that I did not know my mind was acting, 
and my body re-acting, to the thought Calumny ; 
for I know next to nothing of the majority of the 
thoughts which pass and re-pass through my mind, 
either of their true meaning, or of their connection, 
or how they come and where they go. 

[2.] But the visible effect of swallowing arsenic 
upon my body only expresses a more real effect, on 
the plane of finite mind, of the assassin Calumny 
upon my whole terrestrial usefulness and existence. 

[3.] However, when I grasp the meaning of the 
law of contradictories, and begin to know the eso- 
teric life, I gradually come to know that the more 
powerless I am rendered on the lower plane, the 
more do I gain power on the true plane, if I but 
know how to use it. 

[4.1 As my experience of the true force and sig- 
nificance of the word is raised toward true con- 
sciousness, I also begin to discern the celestial force 



38 FOOD ASSIMILATING. 

of the word Calumny, and finally behold, in the 
assassin, only a left-handed and inverted redeemer. 

But what is true of this one word is true of all 
words. The whole universe can be regarded as 
words in different degrees of evolution, just as it 
can be considered thought-rays in different degrees 
of manifestation. I must first learn the names of 
these words, then I must combine words into 
phrases, then into sentences. But, after I become a 
proficient in reading, it is a long time before I can 
grasp even the external (reflected) significance of 
what I read. And only after most profound study 
and experience of the external do I come, finally, to 
grasp the law of contradictories, through which I 
gain the esoteric vision that enables me to discern 
the true and right-sided reality even while my exo- 
teric eye sees only its inverted reflection. This 
whole process expresses the various degrees of 
reading, and esoteric reading is the assimilation of 
the true ego. 

From this analysis I observe a solemn import in the 
use of words. No matter how ignorantly I may use 
them, I must render an account of my use ; for the 
word cannot be disconnected from its significance 
any more than the reflect can be separated from 
the object it mirrors, or ^-action can exist apart 
from action. 

No matter how I may regard words, just as 



FOOD — ASSIMILATING. 39 

surely as I call upon them with my lips, just so 
surely do I evoke their true significance and force, 
which will act in sublime indifference to any con- 
ventional opinion I may chance to hold of their 
meaning. Words will follow the force which 
impels them, and will rebound according to count. 
But when I become an esoteric reader and know 
the law of the action and the count of the rebound, 
these words no longer rule me, but I rule words, 
until finally I realize the power which follows 
assimilation. 

This power of assimilating contradictories which 
enables me to see in death only an inverted and 
left-sided reflect of Life ; and also to see that birth 
and death are opposite ends of the same staff, is the 
light upon my path which leads to my celestial 
heritage. It is also the illumination by means of 
which this heritage is made visible to my esoteric 
sense. 

But assimilation, in its highest degree, is the ges- 
tation and travail of that new birth which is neither 
birth nor death, but the life eternal. 



LESSON VIII. 

HOUSE-PROPORTION. 



My staff of Consciousness has two ends and a 
point of equilibrium, i. <?., exoteric consciousness, 
esoteric consciousness and soul (true ego), the 
invisible centre where the two ends are one. Con- 
sciousness, as a whole, is the tent, the covering, or 
House of the true ego ; exoteric consciousness is 
the outer room ; esoteric consciousness the inner 
room, while the soul itself is symbolized by the 
Hearth situated in the centre of the house between 
the two rooms. 

Before proceeding upon this study of Conscious- 
ness, I must bear in mind the fact that I am now 
dealing with entities which are not palpable to the 
senses — Consciousness I cannot see, hear nor touch ; 
it is a House not made by hands, and to accept 
literally any of the terms employed in designating 
degrees and relations of consciousness will be to 
fall into the grossest error. And yet, since this 
present study is devoted to the exposition of the 
psychical basis of physical health, my study cannot 
go beyond the ground plan of this house ; its eleva- 
tion plan must be reserved for future study in 
Realitv. 



HOUSE — PROPORTION. 41 

In my present study I can only consider my cloud 
celestial with reference to my cloud terrestrial, and 
not with reference to its relation with its celestial 
Sun and Source. 

In the study of my cloud terrestrial, I have been 
dealing with Reflection and inverted Reflects ; now, 
however, I must study my celestial heritage as 
Refraction, and true Refracts. And I must con- 
stantly bear in mind that, owing to the blindness of 
my esoteric vision, these true Refracts will at first 
seem to me upside down ; but as my eyes are 
opened, Refracts will seem right side up, but 
Reflects will then, for the first time, seem in their 
true light as inverted. 

The House of Consciousness, as a whole, must, 
therefore, be a true refraction of which my Ray- 
men t of Body was the inverted reflection. 

Of my staff of Ray-ment, the Visible was the 
head ; therefore, that which appeals to the eye in 
the case of House, or Proportion, must be the true 
refract, of which the Visible is the inverted 
reflect. The Proportion which appeals, through 
my exoteric vision, to my sense of harmony, is the 
external symbol of that true Proj)ortion discernible 
only through my esoteric vision. 

Proportion is commonly defined as an equality or 
equilibrium of ratios. And since it must consist of 
four terms, Proportion is the scales, or balance, of 
the Quarterni. 



42 HOUSE PROPORTION. 

In the case of body, this balance is the equilibrium 
of the four elements, which results in the conscious- 
ness of physical proportion termed Health. 

In the case of finite mi?id, this balance is the 
equilibrium of mind, thoughts, mental pictures and 
outward expression (in speech, in art, etc.), which 
results in the consciousness of mental proportion 
termed knowledge and power. 

But on the true and larger plane it is the equi- 
librium of my celestial and terrestrial refraction 
and reflection, which results in the conscious 
possession and realization, on the part of the true 
ego, of its celestial heritage. 

Now, the terrestrial reflection was dual ; i. e., it 
consisted of action (finite mind) and a re-action 
(body). So the celestial refraction also consists of 
an action (a Ray, one with and inseparable from its 
Sun and Source), and a re-action (true ego). 
Accordingly, in order to clearly see and firmly 
grasp the relation of the dual reflection to its dual 
refraction, I state them thus: starting with the 
reflection, I represent body by a ; finite mind by 
b* true ego by x; celestial Ray by y. 

Now, since Proportion is an equilibrium of ratios, 
it directly follows from the nature itself of reflec- 
tion and refraction that a : b : : x : y, or, body is to 
finite mind as the true ego is to its celestial Ray. 



HOUSE — PROPORTION, 43 

Body (is to) finite mind (as) true ego (is to) Ray. 
a : b : : x : y 

Reflected # Reflected , , Refracted . Refracted 
re-action action re-action action. 

a and b (body and finite mind) are the known 
terms of this proportion, x and y the unknown 
terms ; and the problem stated thus, a : b : : x : y y 
represents the true equilibrium between reflection 
and refraction, and at the same time states the 
reason that a : 5, as it is, because x : y, as it is. But 
when I wish to solve the problem I transpose the 
unknown terms to the first member of the equation, 
and the known to the second member of the equa- 
tion, or, turn the left hand to the right, thus, 
x : y : : a : b, an instinctive acknowledgment of the 
fact that the known is the inverted and left-sided 
copy of the unknown. 

The word ratio is from the Latin radiits (ray or 
rod), therefore in its derived significance a ratio is 
a rod, and proportion is accordingly an equilibrium 
of rods, and thus is the true meaning expressed in 
the derivation, since proportion is equilibrium 
between reflected rods (rays) and refracted rods. 

This equilibrium of rods is always a problem 
capable of solution, although one requiring skill and 
patience. The value, meaning, and force of a?, or 
true ego, is always the point to be ascertained. 

Here, again, I notice that the very symbol itself 



44 HO USE — PROPORTION. 

(the x) which I have instinctively employed to 
designate the true ego expresses, by its form of 
cross, the equilibrium of two rods. Thus, not only 
is proportion itself a statement of the problem of 
the soul, but also the term itself, which stands for 
soul, states this momentous problem. Reflecting 
still further, I find that proportion, as the equi- 
librium of reflected rods and refracted rods, states 
and solves all the problems of light, heat, sound and 
motion, and thus I come to regard the whole phe- 
nomenal universe as but a continuous statement and 
re-statement of this problem of the soul. 

But I have just found that each statement, in 
itself, is dual ; that at the same time, or together 
with the statement, there is also a re-statement, or 
reason why, implied in the statement itself, i. 0., the 
statement also implies the solution ; or, to state is 
to solve, thus, 

(as) (because) 

a : b : : x : y a : b : : x : y 

Statement. Solution. 

The statement implies knowledge, while the 
solution (re-statement) expresses faith. But the 
equilibrium between this statement and its re-state- 
ment is the anchor by means of which the true ego 
realizes its Ray-ment, or House of consciousness as 
the refracted reality, of which its Ray-men t of 
bodily sensation was the inverted reflection. 



LESSON IX. 

HOUSE-DOOR. 



Between the outer and inner rooms of my House 
of Consciousness there is a door, which swings out 
or in. The name of this door is Doubt. When it 
swings out, the counts of its vibrations are audible 
to my external ear; but when it swings in, the 
counts are audible only to my esoteric ear. 

This double nature of my door is expressed in its 
very name ; for doubt is derived from two Greek 
words which signify to go two ways, and to doubt 
is, very literally, to be in the mental and physical 
condition of trying to walk in two opposite direc- 
tions at the same time. 

However, from doubt — from this attempt to walk 
in two opposite directions at the same time — is pro- 
duced all mental action, which ultimately results 
in knowledge. Doubt is the only door through 
which I can ever reach absolute certitude. 

As long as I do not doubt, but accept everything 
as it appears on the outside, taking for granted the 
seeming for the real, the door between me and 
knowledge is closed and locked. But the moment 
I begin to doubt the door begins to swing, and it 



46 HOUSE DOOR. 

swings out, creaking and grating, and forces me 
away from the very knowledge I would seek ; while 
I, deceived by the sound, think, because the door is 
opening, and because I am listening to the counts, 
that I am thus acquiring truth, while I am, really, 
only acquiring the contradictory of truth. Thus I 
who sincerely seek truth, partake only of its 
inverted reflect, and, thereby, deceived and bewil- 
dered, I become a victim of all manner of delusions, 
and fearful of shadows, until finally the door swings 
clear back against the wall, and can go no further. 
The door has swung w T ide open, and to doubting 
was due the whole mental activity by which this 
result was accomplished. 

In its course of outward movement the door has 
described a semicircle. There is but one way to 
complete the circle, viz., the door must swing back 
again, and then swing over the threshold into the 
inner, and hitherto unknown room of my house, until 
it reaches the wall again on the inner side ; then 
the circle w T ill be complete. 

Doubt has opened wide the door, and manifested 
the whole process of the movement which described 
the outer semicircle. Now, the determination to 
complete and to know the other half of the circle is 
the exact contradictory of doubt. Determination 
reverses the movement of the door. It begins to 
swing in. To determine is, therefore, to reverse 



HOUSE — DOOR 47 

doubt, not to abandon it ; for, manifestly, deter- 
mination without previous line of doubt to follow 
back upon must surely end in my finding myself 
just where I started, i; e. y before a closed and locked 
door. 

The way to reverse doubt is to, at once and unre- 
servedly, doubt all that doubt has previously 
accepted as real, what doubt has hitherto decided 
to be unreal. Thus will I possess myself of the key 
which w T ill force the door to swing over its latch 
without locking. But I must swing the door clear 
open, and describe the inner semicircle, before I 
can myself pass in and consciously possess myself of 
the treasures of this esoteric consciousness. 

In geometry, the word term signifies the point 
and the line, and to de-term-ine is to limit by means 
of the point and the line. Accordingly, to doubt 
and to determine is the process by means of which 
I arrive at the true meaning of the point and the 
line. Doubt is the form of force which causes the 
door to swing, or strike out from the centre of 
equilibrium, or, the centrifugal force ; while Deter- 
mination is the form of force which draws back to 
the centre, or, centripetal force. Now, when these 
two forms of force are in perfect equilibrium, my 
door will describe the perfect circle. But before 
that, in my actual experience while developing this 
circle, this larger line is in itself marked out by an 
incessant pendulum-like swing, first back, then 



48 HOUSE DOOR. 

forth, of the door, and so on — an infinitely zigzag 
line, and a continuous tick-tack of count, the counts 
varying according to the longer or shorter swing of 
the door. And these counts express gradations of 
doubt and determination. This I also found to be 
the relation between the two forms of numerals, or, 
counting and measuring. 

Doubt has led to a mental activity which has 
resulted in the accumulation of facts, or knowledge 
of the external construction of my circle. Deter- 
mination is the re-action against doubt, which will 
ultimately force the door back and w T ithin. 

The relations of doubts and determinations is that 
of cogs and grooves, and without the two the wheel 
could not revolve ; i. e., doubts and determinations 
are polar opposites which mutually imply each 
other. Just so my outer semicircle, when com- 
pleted, must be the polar opposite of the inner 
semicircle, and since the two mutually imply each 
other, when I know the external I also know what 
the inner must be. 

The name, Doubt, which I have given my door, 
since it signifies to go two ways, implies both doubt 
and determination in itself. However, as doubt is 
the first act which drives the door away from the 
inner room, and determination impels it back into 
my esoteric consciousness, I now give my door two 
names to designate the direction in which it swings. 
Thus, when swinging out I call it Doubt, when 



HOUSE BOOK. 49 

swinging in I call it Determination, for it is deter- 
mination which forces the door in — tears it open. 

Now the first meaning of the word door, is to 
tear or break open, the same word also meaning to 
pray or to supplicate. Doubt is action, determin- 
ation, re-action. Door, or true prayer is the point 
of equilibrium between the two. 

As I carefully regard the nature of my con- 
sciousness, I find that in the day time I am actively 
absorbed with the external and phenomenal. But 
that at night, in sleep I pass to the re-active, or 
appearantly unconscious state. Yet, if I awaken 
suddenly I am often conscious of having been 
interrupted in a train of thought ; or of being 
recalled from distant lands and scenes which I was 
visiting in dreams. 

By addition of motion to proportion (balanced 
rods), the form thus described builds me a spiral 
house. Also the two rooms described by the 
swinging of my door, marks out to my ear a cir- 
cular house. 

Proportion and Door express the same house of 
two rooms, the one to my esoteric eye, the other 
to my esoteric ear. Proportion and door symbolize 
the true refracts of which the visible and audible 
are the inverted reflects. Furthermore, Day and 
Night consciousness express the true refracts of 
color and sound sensation. Day is night modi 
visible. Night is day made audible. 



LESSON X. 

HOUSE-HEABTH. 



Since my house is spiral, the line between its two 
rooms is a diameter, or two radii (rods, rays). The 
door is one radius, the hearth is the other. 

My hearth is the warmth giving vital centre. 
It is the point from whence the Hearth-fire radiates 
and permeates my whole house. 

In my physical system, this vital centre is the 
heart, situated on the left side, while the lungs on 
the right, are the door which swinging incessantly 
back and forth, fans the life flame glowing on my 
hearth, or in my heart. Thus I see that on the 
reflected plane, my hearth is my heart, and examin- 
ing the tw T o words I see the heart(h) is heart with 
an aspirate (a spira) added. And this addition of 
the breathing which changes heart to hearth signi- 
fies the inseparable unity of Hearth and Door as 
well as the inseparable unity of heart and breathing. 

Hearth and door as a unity are a diameter, 
as polar opposites, they are two radii. Now the 
point of equilibrium between the two radii is the 
point of radiation, the centre of reflected (physical) 
life, the centre of refracted life which is conscious- 



HOUSE— HEARTH. 5 1 

ness. And strangely enough the word H-ear-th 
expresses all this in its formation. The two breath- 
ings are the polar opposites, the radii ; while the 
word ear means to shoot, to dart, to ray. 

And this point of radiation, is also the centre of 
my whole house ; for, the revolution of these radii 
about the centre describe the circle which bounds 
my whole house. And since my door and my 
hearth extend from the floor to the ceiling, they 
must in their revolution, describe a spiral or cylin- 
drical form of house. My house is thus my tower. 
And since to shoot, to ear is the centre, the ear of 
corn is, very truly, the symbol of my house as my 
tower. But my house is consciousness, therefore 
consciousness is my tower, my strength, and my 
defense. 

Just as the ear of corn symbolizes the external 
form of my house, so the listening ear expresses 
the esoteric reality of consciousness. Now ear 
implies voice, just as heart implies breathing, just as 
hearth implies door. Voice is sound thrown out by 
breath, therefore ear: voice:: hearth: door. And 
this proportion must both state, and solve all prob- 
lems of consciousness involving the relation of 
hearth to door. 

The listening ear is the ear leaning, inclining, 
stretching out toward, or, in other words, it is the 
resisting ear. It is the ear resisting or reacting 



52 HOUSE — HEARTH. 

against the vibrations thrown out by the voice of 
my door. List and lust are the same in derivation, 
— list is the resistance to the true vibrations, lust is 
the resistance to the reflected vibrations. 

Resistance, in itself, is dual, e. g. in the case of 
external sensation ; unless my consciousness re-acts 
against the action offered by the polarity of exter- 
nal objects, I experience no sense of touch. 

Now as long as my consciousness is wholly occu- 
pied in external and phenomenal resistance, it 
knows only the voice and language of exoteric con- 
sciousness. But after I learn from experience of 
the visible, audible and tangible, to comprehend 
the relation of reflection to refraction, I come to 
to see, from proportion w T hat must be the relation 
of the hearth to the door of my house of conscious- 
ness, i. e., since, on the physical (reflected) plane, 
the relation of eye to light vibrations, of ear to 
voice, of heart to breathing, but express different 
degrees of resistance, or forms of the sense of 
touch, therefore, on the refracted plane, the relation 
of esoteric hearth to esoteric door expresses the 
true refract, of which the three-fold sense of resist- 
ance is the inverted reflect. 

And, accordingly, if I would know the esoteric 
voice of my door, and acquire the language of its 
esoteric breathing, so as to discern its relation to 
the esoteric raying (earing) of my hearth, then I 



HOUSE HEARTH. 53 

must combine Knowledge and Faith as shown in 
Proportion. 

Knowledge is the insight into the equilibrium of 
ratios ; Faith is the trust that the refraction which 
I cannot see, is the cause of the reflection which I 
do see ; thus Faith is the discerning eye. 

Prayer is the trust that the inaudible vibration 
is the cause of the audible vibration. And this 
inaudible vibration is the still voice which the list- 
ening ear doors (prays) ope?i, — hears. 

Realizing (ray-izing) is the trust that this vital 
spark of consciousness, impalpable to my exoteric 
resistance, is the cause of the flame smouldering on 
my hearth of heart. And this vital spark is tan- 
gible to the resisting hearth, — the pure heart. 

The discerning eye sees the celestial Ray y the 
listening ear communes with It, — the resisting 
heart consciously and vitally realizes It. 

This Ray is one with and inseparable from its 
celestial Sun and Source ; — this Ray is a Thought 
of the Infinite Mind, and one with Infinite Mind. 
So that when I see the Ray, I also see the Sun, for 
the sun and its rays are one ; when I know the 
Thought I also know the Mind, for mind and 
thoughts cannot be separated. 

Mind and Thought-rays become one, or, are 
assimilated, through mental pictures. Therefore, 
this pure hearth of heart, this vital centre of con- 



54 HOUSE — HEARTH. 

sciousness, when it resists, or, reacts against the 
celestial Thought-ray, not only becomes assimilated 
with the Thought-ray itself, but also brings to a 
vital focus, a mental picture of Infinite Mind. 

My true ego, my soul is, therefore, a mental pic- 
ture of the Infinite Mind in process of expression. 
And it takes many and hard lines to bring this 
mental picture to a focus, and to emancipate it 
from its own inverted reflections. 

The Divine Artist acts through the Thought-ray. 
And when my soul consciously re-acts, or responds, 
the work goes on swiftly. Moreover, since thought 
and mental picture mutually imply each other, just 
as mind implies thought, therefore, I am one with 
Infinite Mind as soon as I consciously accept and 
realize the fact of Insepardbleness. 

An appeal to consciousness is always ultimate. 
The sensations of my body, and the desires of my 
terrestrial mind, are the undeniable facts of my 
consciousness, therefore to solve any problem of 
soul implied in the statement a : b : : x : y is a very 
simple process of elimination / for I always have 
the two following equations from which to compare 
and substitute the value of x : 

Body j a : b : : sensation : y. ) 

Finite mind ( a : b : : desire : y. J 

But I know that to realize this inestimable value 



HOUSE — HEARTH. 55 

of x will be to cast out the errors of my desires, 
and to heal the diseases of my sensations ; for the 
reflection must correspond to the refraction. And 
not only my own errors and diseases, but also those 
of other souls slumbering in their inner rooms of 
consciousness. For w T ithin every inner room there 
glimmers a celestial Thought-ray of Infinite Mind. 
And within the unity of this Infinite Mind our 
true consciousnesses all move and have their being. 
To enter within this inner room and to realize its 
inseparable unity with the celestial Mansions of all 
consciousness, is to reverse Night and Day, and to 
awaken and find how soundly I have been asleep 
amid the inverted shadows of the true Aurora. 



LESSON XI. 

HEABTH-FIRE-RAY. 



Drawing near my Hearth I now regard the fire 
growing upon its shrine, in order to learn from 
thence, of the celestial ray which transmutes the 
flame offered at the Altar of the heart into Soul. 

These dancing and gleaming flames upon my 
Hearth are, indeed, very literally transformed sun- 
light, and it was as a perpetual reminder of this 
fact, that, in olden times, in case the hearth-fire 
should, by mischance, go out it would be relighted 
from sunlight by collecting rays to a focus. So in 
studying these glowing embers, I am but studying 
inverted sunlight, while sunlight in its turn is but 
reflected Thought-light, 

What first attracts my attention is the fact of 
motion — without this motion, or radiation, the entire 
manifestation of light and heat disappears. 

Motion is an inseparable factor of this fire which 
consists of polar opposites of fire and rays, and a 
point which is neither fire nor rays, but where the 
two are one, — the point where they constantly bal- 
ance from one to the other in an endless circle. 

Just so motion cannot be separated from mind 



HEARTH-FIRE RAY. 57 

and thoughts, any more than thoughts can exist 
apart from mind. In the case of mind I term this 
motion reasoning (derived from radius, rod), and 
thus reasoning is radiation both in meaning and 
derivation. 

Even in the case of my staff which I designate 
as inanimate, were it not for a certain degree of 
motion it would not exist at all, it would vanish 
entirely from my sight. Thus, it is visible because 
it re-acts against light-vibrations. It is tangible 
because of certain equilibriums of action and re-ac- 
tion commonly termed attraction and repulsion. 

Thus I see that motion, radiation, reasoning and 
existence, are all forms of Ray-ing, and ray-ing is 
the inseparable fourth element, or Quarterni in 
every Unity. Every Unity is an inseparable Dual- 
ity, Trinity and Quarterni. 

Although motion cannot be separated from unity, 
duality and trinity, yet I must distinguish between 
it and the other elements in order to comprehend 
the nature of Force, or Ray-ing, before I can divine 
its meaning, and realize its presence upon the altar 
of my Hearth. 

The ray-ing of these flames before which I hold 
my hands, is of two kinds, viz. : For every ray-ing 
out, there is a ray-ing back. Different gradations 
of the ray-ing back but correspond to gradations of 
the ray-ing forth. Action and re-action are equal, 



58 HEARTH-FIRE — RAY. 

or, in other words, there is an equilibrium between 
the forms of ray-ing. 

At this point of equlibrium between the two, i. e., 
by the union of the two, are formed all manner of 
figures, mathematical, fantastic and beautiful. And 
as I closely watch them, I even discern the colors ; 
now a dart of red, now a dart of blue, flashes of 
purple, and of gold. 

But since flames are only inverted sunlight, every 
ray of light, therefore, also carries its prism with it, 
L £., its re-active form of force is its prism by means 
of which, through infinite equilibriums of its infi- 
nate gradations, it images forth infinite colors and 
forms. 

Now I have already seen that every equilibrium, 
from the lowest gradation to the highest is a state- 
ment and re-statement of the problem of the Soul. 
Therefore each and every gradation, must, in itself, 
be a statement and re-statement of some different 
degree and phase of the general statement. And 
at once the whole visible universe looms up before 
me, no longer vague, chaotic and meaningless, but 
as a sublime universal language, which appeals, 
through sensation, to my whole nature. 

[1.] Each vibration, and shade of color, is a 
reflected vibration and shade of Thought, of which 
it is a polar opposite, and from which it cannot be 
separated. So that when I once possess the key 



HEARTH-FIRE — RAY. 5 9 

which translates the symbol to its thought, I am 
never at the mercy of a blind chance, but read 
according to an unalterable law. And each pris- 
matic color, not only reflects a thought, but the 
seven together are spokes of a wheel, which by 
their relation to each other by their difficult grada- 
tions of refractions and reflections, reflect various 
thought relations. And moreover this wheel when 
revolved at a certain velocity blends the seven colors 
into the pure white light, — and this also expresses 
a thought. 

[2.] Each vibration of sound, but speaks to my 
listening ear in this same universal language. It 
pronounces the words spelt out to my eyes. 

[3.] Through the resistance of touch this univer- 
sal language becomes a vital, living reality to me. 
I not only see and hear, but I feel it throughout 
every nerve and fibre of my body. I sensibly real- 
ize myself as an inseparable member of the written 
word, perhaps only as a punctuation mark, yet in 
some way inseparably connected with the sense of 
the whole. 

Touch implies desire, and passing from sensation 
to the second spire, or coil of my nature, I see at 
once, from the very necessities of finite desire, action 
and the assimilation of the two, that this universal 
language is a drama in which I am a blind puppet, 
obeying a hidden law of entrances and exits (births 



60 HEARTH-FIRE — RAY. 

and deaths), and in which I but repeat a speech as 
pronounced to me, trippingly on the tongue, with 
no more conception of the plot of the play, and the 
real purpose for which it is enacted, than had Ham- 
let's players of the deep and hidden purpose for 
which he employed them. 

But at length my consciousness passes the curve 
of the third coil of my spiral nature, and grasps the 
equilibrium of ratios, and combines the knowledge 
and faith which mutually imply each other, into a 
statement, — a statement which is also a solution of 
the esoteric sense of this great drama. 

As I come to understand the external construc- 
tion of this universal language, I see that our mod- 
ern printing press is but an adaptation on the finite 
plane, of the principle according to which the Infi- 
nite Mind has published abroad throughout the 
universe, his divine thoughts and purposes. There- 
fore, to know my part, I must first learn the letters 
and words as they seem, then learn to read them 
upside down, and from right to left. 

In the second place I must learn the exoteric 
meaning and action of my part in the drama. And 
here, as before, the Ray of Light is my clew of 
thread, which alone reveals the path through the 
labyrinth of bewildering shadows, to the abode of 
the Minotaur of finite desire and action. For the 
fabulous beast Minotaur, which was fed by the 



HEARTH-FIRE — RAY. 61 

sacrifice of the choicest Athenian youths, but per- 
sonifies the finite, or earthly mind, with its idol wor- 
ship, — -with its sacrifices and oblations of the higher 
nature to the lower. And this Minotaur must be 
slain by the true Theseus, before I can start out to 
know and act my part in the esoteric drama. 

The Ray is, therefore, first, in itself, the entire 
alphabet of the universal language. For, by its 
two forms of force, and point of equilibrium, it 
furnishes the point and lines according to which 
the whole visible universe is pictured out to my 
senses. 

The Ray is, second, in itself, the fire (inverted 
sunlight), — the fuel, the father, the food of sensa- 
tion, in its search after the Minotaur. Food and 
father are the same in derivation. And the finite 
mind is indeed the father of the body, in that it 
provides and cares for all its demands. But 
the finite mind is also the father or food of the 
Soul during the period of apprenticeship to the 
Shadows. 

It is the reflected father of the Soul, and from it 
the Soul must learn of its celestial Father. Every 
time one finite mind goes out in the appearance 
called death, then the Soul re-kindles its finite 
food (fuel) from its celestial Father, or Thought- 
ray, and goes on anew, to learn its part in the 
drama, until I come to discern this celestial Ray 



82 HEARTH-FIRE RAY. 

in my heart, and realize this vital spark of con- 
sciousness as re-acting (responding) to it as its 
celestial Father. Then is the Ray the force by 
which I solve the meaning of the words about me ; 
and divine their significance in the great drama. 
Then finally w^ill consciousness be transmuted into 
Soul, qualified to enact its part in the larger drama, 
since having become one with its own celestial 
Father, it is also one with the Father of All Lights. 



LESSON XII. 

HEAKTH-FIKE-IMAGES. 



These mysterious forms which are constantly 
appearing and vanishing amid the flames glowing 
on my Hearth next claim my attention, — these 
faces, beautiful or weird, which suddenly gleam 
with an intelligence that I am rarely quick enough 
to interpret, ere the glance has melted into another 
expression, and assumed another face. 

I have already seen that these images occur at 
the point of equilibrium between the two forms of 
force, or, the point where polar opposites are one. 

Consciousness is, therefore, the focus where form, 
or image, is made clear, — made manifest. The 
word manifest at once interests me. The primary 
sense of the word man, manna, manes, is image, 
form, shade / festu was a small staff used to point 
out letters to children when learning to read, there- 
fore the first meaning of man and festu joined 
together in the word man-ifest evidently is to 
point out, or make clear the image, form, man, 
manna, manes. And this I take to be the object, 
or purpose of all manifestation, viz., to bring to a 
vital focus the divine image of Soul. Accordingly 



64 HEARTH-FIRE IMAGES. 

I regard images as of four degrees, or classes, the 
first two being reflected and terrestrial, the last two 
being refracted and celestial. 

(1) (2) (3) (4) 

Man : Manes : : Soul : Manna. 

(1.) Man, or body, is the external and visible 
expression of the image. 

(2.) My present finite mind is a manes in process 
of expression. 

(3.) Soul is a mental picture (image) of the 
Infinite Mind in process of development. 

(4.) The celestial Thought-ray of Infinite Mind 
is the Manna, True Food, or Father of the Soul. 

For every thought of my finite mind there is an 
accompanying mental picture, existing, so to speak, 
in my own mental light, and held at a focus by my 
consciousness. Xow, obviously, if this mental pic- 
ture is reflected to other minds within the range of 
my mental light, this mental picture will be mir- 
rored on their screen, or tent of consciousness, and 
since mental picture cannot be separated from 
thought, their minds will also think my thought. 
This illustrates the vmy all thoughts come and go ; 
for all minds are factors of an inseparable Unity, 
and are, therefore, in a constant state of action and 
re-action. 

Now while my senses are wholly absorbed in the 
external, I never consciously discern mental pic- 



HEARTH-FIRE IMAGES. 65 

tures. They are an entirely unrecognized factor in 
my mental machinery. And, in the present age, 
all inner vision is sternly remanded to the realm of 
fantasy as the next door to insanity, and proof 
positive of morbid conditions of body and mind. 
Therefore, if I would ever know the truth of the 
inner vision, I must endure the infamy of being 
one who dreams dreams, and sees visions. How- 
ever, a very little experience and reflection soon 
convince me that the mutual polarity of thought 
and mental picture explains all phenomena of 
dreams, clairvoyance, premonitions, apparitions, 
etc., etc. 

I have already found that all finite action is dual, 
i. 6., it is passion, and it is oblation, Now oblation 
is of various degrees, 

(1.) Part of my daily actions are the sacrifices of 
the lower forms of life to maintain my own bodily 
existence. But in return for these acts, certain sac- 
rifices are required at my hands. The scales of 
Proportion measure out to me just as I measure 
out to others, for every scrap and muscle of animal 
flesh which I take into my system is a pictured 
scroll of suffering, fear of death, and sense of depri- 
vation of an heritage to life. These words my 
sense of touch reports faithfully to my conscious- 
ness, and I myself, in my turn, am a constant slave 
to these same fears and sufferings. Yet, I must 



66 HEATCTH-FIRE— IMAGES. 

pass through a long period of apprenticeship in 
sacrificing to these images until I learn the esoteric 
meaning of the word sacrifice upon this plane of 
my nature. Then I will be enabled to sustain my 
physical life upon the vegetables, grains and fruits 
of the Earth, which are more directly transformed 
sunlight, and thus symbolic of the celestial manna. 
(2.) The social or moral acts of my daily life are 
sacrifices to the manes. The Manes are the shades 
of the departed. They are the cast off reflects of 
the soul, — photographs of soul, existing in the mag- 
netic light. And since they are photographs of 
true consciousness, they must partake, in a degree, 
of the living Hay-ality they reflect. And must, 
therefore, possess a terrestrial and finite conscious- 
ness, capable of communicating (through mental 
pictures) with other intelligences. These finite 
consciousnesses with which I am surrounded con- 
stantly reflect to me my own past thoughts and 
deeds, and thus impel me to perform again the 
same acts and deeds. If I strongly set myself to 
do right, then my acts are sacrifices to the good 
manes, but if I am selfish and cruel, then I sacrifice 
to the evil manes. But, more than this, just as I 
am in a most complex social relation with other 
minds about me, so are my manes, also, involved in 
this same complex relation with the manes of other 
minds. Moreover, just as these photographs 



HEARTH-FIRE — IMAGES. 6 7 

(manes) reflect good or evil thoughts to me, so they 
also reflect diseased, and otherwise marked physical, 
j)eculiarities to me. So that if I would maintain 
my physical health, I must be able to discern these 
shades which hang unseemly pictures in my House 
of consciousness. I must tear down the evil manes, 
and hang up the good manes. 

(3.) These sacrifices to the good manes are abso- 
lutely essential to my progress toward my realiza- 
tion of soul ; for the manes feed upon my finite 
mind and body, just as I feed upon the lower forms 
of life. These sacrifices are the third form of 
oblations, i. <?., they are offerings to Soul ; for, the 
soul, in its turn, also feeds upon the manes. 

(4.) The fourth form of oblation is that of the 
soul to its celestial Manna, And, although, w T hile 
embodied I must practice all four forms of sacri- 
fices, yet I can never catch a gleam of soul and its 
implied eternity without henceforward directing 
my entire course of action (oblation) so as to par- 
take of the food which is mercy and not sacrifice, 
— which is love and not suffering, and finally to 
sustain myself wholly upon the celestial Manna. 

Now, the soul as a mental picture of Infinite 
Mind, is of divine origin, poor, sinless, and perfect, 
in that it contains within itself, in the germ, all 
that is eventually evolved. And its evolution is 
the result of its own inner force, united to that of 



68 HEARTH-FIRE IMAGES. 

its own Thought-ray. Time is the period of its 
process of expression, but the soul has eternity back 
of it, and before it. 

At the end of its time, — its great day of Mem- 
ory, when the soul, freed from birth and death, is 
ready to collect together different earth lives as so 
many events in one great whole, — and is waiting to 
put on its beautiful garments, so as to go and dwell 
forever with its Father, and enact its parts of the 
larger Drama, within the celestial Mansions ; then 
the stern Judge Minos draws, or pours, these 
robes, or manes, from out his Urn, and only such 
as are worthy of eternity can be strung as beads on 
memory's silver cord. 

The soul can assume only such characters as are 
fitted to be enacted in the presence of divinity. 
And the manes which have in no way reflected the 
true ego, but only its contradictory, will go out in 
the outer darkness of nothingness. For as they 
exist only as contradictories of the soul's light, 
among the inverted shadows, they have failed to 
lay hold of the true refraction, which alone is 
entity, which is eternal life, and when the soul's 
light is indrawn from the terrestrial, to its celestial 
Source, these inverted reflections will be utterly 
dispelled. 

However, until the end of time, it is possible, 
for even the contradictory manes to be quickened. 



HE A RTH-FIRE — IMAGES. 69 

For, just as it is possible for me, when the visible 
life of my friend goes out, to hold his manes, spell- 
bound, and in agony, by my grief, just so it is pos- 
sible for me who have House, Food, and Ray-merit 
to shelter the homeless, to feed the hungry, and to 
clothe the naked. Thus can I rescue this manes, 
and herein is the oblation which is Love and not 
suffering. But the grief of despair is, in truth, a 
refined form of vivisection. 



LESSON XIII. 

HEARTH-FIRE— LAW. 



yea : nay : : Yea : Nay. 

The Law of Man-i-fest-ation, or of pointing out 
Images, is the Law of Contradictories. 

Contradictory Opposites are inverted and left- 
sided reflections of Real or Polar Opposites. Polar 
Opposites mutually imply and include each other, 
while Contradictory Opposites mutually deny and 
exclude each other. 

And just as it is impossible for me to walk in 
two opposite directions at the same time ; just as it 
is impossible for me to affirm both of two Contra- 
dictions to be true and avoid mental chaos and 
nothingness, just so it is impossible for me to affirm 
the identity of Real Opposites and Contradictory 
Opposites, and avoid spiritual chaos and nothing- 
ness. 

To grasp this distinction is to make the choice 
between the Real and the un-real, between Light 
and darkness, between Life and death, between the 
Eternal and the temporal, between Wholeness and 
chaos. And it is the spiritual insight implied in 



HEARTH-FIRE LAW. 71 

this choice which is so beautifully expressed in the 
myth of Ariadna's Clew of Thread. Ariadna's 
mystical clew of thread symbolizes this intuitive 
discerning of the relation of True Opposites to con- 
tradictory opposites which will lead the true 
Theseus safely through the mazes of the Labyrinth 
of inverted reflections, and enable him to destroy 
the Minotaur of sense and seeming. 

The fact that Ariadna's twist of thread symbol- 
izes this inner, intuitive Bay, is evident from the 
derivation of the word twist, as well as from the 
formation itself of a twist. Thus the Greek word 
2y}^a is a twist, a torch, a flame. Our word 
scissors is also derived from this same word. 

Again, in its formation, a twist expresses the 
mystery of this Law, thus the twist is composed of 
two strands (each strand double), which are first 
twisted in opposite directions, then by being 
doubled back upon each other, the two strands fly 
magically into one manifestation. 

In the thread of light the Law is expressed in 
the dual, and yet unitary manifestation of re- 
fracted ray and its inverted reflected ray. 

The scissors also expressed the Law in their con- 
struction of two blades fastened at the centre, by a 
point, or pin. When opened they image a cross, 
while the movement itself, of cutting, expr< 
the contraditories ; L e., the two blades come 



72 HEARTH-FIRE LAW. 

together and cut only as a result of the movement 
which forced them apart. This movement of the 
scissors is also the movement of the hand bellows, 
which impart breath to the flame. 

The thread is the path in the Labyrinth ; the 
torch is the light on the path ; the scissors cut 
along the narrow thread which twists in and out 
amid the mazy shadows ; while the three are all 
one. They are the Parcae. 

In order to still further study the Law of Contra- 
dictories, I take the word Health, and its contra- 
dictory Disease. Following the Quarterni of word 
as already given in the lesson or assimilating, thus : 

(1.) The outer expression of disease upon the 
body in various forms, is the external symbol of 
the word. 

(2.) On the plane of finite mind, dis-ease is lack 
of ease resulting from the erroneous judgment of a 
finite Health apart from Infinite Wholeness. 

(3.) My conscious experience of the word is the 
point of equilibrium between the finite and Infinite 
meaning of the word. 

(4.) The true and celestial force and significance 
of the word completes the Quarterni, and Health 
would therefore be wholeness, completeness and 
perfection. 

On the reflected, or finite plane, Health as ordi- 
narily understood is, in truth, lack of wholeness, inas- 



HEARTH-FIRE LAW. I 6 

much as it is taken for granted to be purely physical, 
and something apart from spiritual wholeness, h 
therefore signifies, not the balanced staff, but only 
the physical end up, of the staff, and the location 
of consciousness in the body which will surely lead 
the finite ego to seek bodily pleasures. This ten- 
dency of consciousness will inevitably lead to pain, 
and the finite ego thus will sea-saw from one end 
of the staff to the other until it maintains its posi- 
tion at the centre. 

Accordingly consciousness located in the body, 
and giving a sense of physical lustiness, is, in 
reality, incompleteness and lack of Wholeness. 
"While pain, which in itself is only the other end 
up, of the staff, is only a second woe, and conscious- 
ness still out of its true position. But the equilib- 
rium of these two woes, finally enable consciousness 
to assume its equilibrium. They teach the way to 
true Health. Without the action of the woe of 
pleasure, and the re-action of the woe of pain, con- 
sciousness could never realize its celestial heritage. 
Herein is the Worth of the ttoo woes. Pleasure is as 
much a dis-ease as is pain. Pleasure and pain are 
head and foot of the staff of disease, and disease is 
the inverted reflection, or, contradictory of Health. 

When I can invert Disease and read it from 
right to left, then I know the mystery of Health, 
and not before. Pleasure and pain are a double 



74 HEARTH-FIRE LAW, 

strand twisted together into the reflected half of a 
word. This reflected half is, either Disease, or 
finite Health, but the other half, the contradictory 
of Disease, is the perfect ease of true Health, while 
Wholeness is the equilibrium between the refrac- 
tion and reflection which cuts or distinguishes 
between the inseparable ; for true cutting is unit- 
ing. It mysteriously combines the double strands 
which were twisted in opposite directions. 

Thus this process of healiny is the process of 
assimilating, and assimilating is Heading (rod-ing) 
— exoteric and esoteric reading, therefore healing 
is reading. Exoteric healing with minerals and 
drugs is only exoteric reading and an indispensable 
first step toward esoteric reading, or healing. I 
must learn the symbols of words before I can learn 
the words. But when I come to know that heal- 
ing, reading and assimilating take place through 
Images, then there is no longer need of communi- 
cating with external words. I can communicate 
directly through the Images. The Images com- 
municate my thought without my going out to 
hunt up a clumsy drug or mineral to act as inter- 
preter. 

Again, with our lips we all speak foreign tongues 
to each other, but the Images speak the language 
of the heart; there is no misunderstanding them. 

The Law of Contradictories is also the Law of 



HEARTH-FIRE LAW. 76 

communication as well as the Law of manifestation, 
for the object and purpose of man-i-fest r ation is 
communication. And if assimilating, reading and 
healing are all different degrees of communication^ 
then must this Law of Contradictories be the Law 
of The Most High, mystically expressed as Yea, 
yea; Nay, nay, but which translated in terms of 
staff or proportion, reads 



yea : nay : : Yea : Nay. yea and nay 

are contradictory or reflected opposites of 

Yea and Nay the true and Polar Opposites. 

The force with which the terrestrial fibres of 
pleasure and pain twist away from the celestial 
fibres they reflect (contradict), but expresses the 
force with which the two strands will enfold each 
_other when the finite will removes the pressure 
with which it clings to its idols and turns toward 
the true ray, and toward its celestial Source. 

Healing, — making whole, is therefore, the last 
and greatest Word for me to learn. It is the pro- 
cess of combining the contradictory parts of the 
drama into a magnificent Whole, and entering into 
the spirit of the Divine Author. It is a recalling 
of the parts I have been learning since the begin- 
ning of time. It is the assuming of the robes and 
characters I have been so long and painfully elabor- 



76 HEARTH-FIRE LAW. 

ating. And finally it is a swinging out from time 
into eternity to enact a part prepared for me from 
the beginning. 

Looking out into this vast Universe I see only 
Mind in process of evolution. Each ray is a 
Thought-ray in development by means of refrac- 
tion and reflection. Equilibrium, or Central-point, 
whenever it occurs, is Consciousness in process of 
realization. Motion is Reasoning in process of 
radiation. The Reasoning which is spiral and 
Spiritual. 



LESSON XIV. 

OO^rOLTJSIO^-THE WALL, 



Will implies Freedom. If I have no power of 
choice, then I, evidently, have no will of my own. 
Moreover, if I have no Freedom (implied by Will), 
then I am the most abject of slaves. 

In the ancient ceremony of manumission the 
slave was touched with the rod, as a symbol of the 
fact that the ray frees from bonds of delusion. 

Again in the rite of Knighthood, which admits 
to the privilege of bearing arms, the rod bore an 
important part. 

Accordingly before I can enter upon my herit- 
age, before I can seat myself upon my Throne and 
assume my Scepter, I must, first, be freed from 
slavery, and, second, 1 must be endowed with the 
privilege of bearing arms. But before I can receive 
a scepter and rule I must know how to rule, — before 
I can receive the honors of Knighthood I must 
know how to build a Wall and defend my posses- 
sions. 

(1.) To know how to rule I must be able to bal- 
ance the rod of Justice and Mercy. Now, Justice 
and Mercy are not Contradictories, as the world 



78 CONCLUSION THE WALL. 

seems to have taken for granted, but they are Polar 
Opposites of the same rod. They mutually imply 
each other, and are simply unthinkable apart ; for 
Justice without Mercy is not just ; — for Mercy 
without Justice is blindly cruel, and therefore not 
Mercy at all. 

Now the perfect equilibrium between Justice 
and Mercy is perfect power of choice, or perfect 
Freedom. For, since when I am ruled I am not 
free, if I am ever ruled in the slightest degree by 
my affections, then T am neither just nor merciful, 
and if my sense of Justice preponderates over my 
affection, then I am neither just nor merciful, 
and therefore am not free. It thus directly fol- 
lows that I am not free, until I balance the rod of 
Justice and Mercy, and, moreover, since Freedom 
(power of choice) implies Will, it also directly fol- 
lows that when I am free, then I shall know the 
meaning of Will, and not before. 

Now, just as true Freedom is the exact contradic- 
tory of freedom on the finite plane, — so true Will 
is the exact contradictory of will on the finite 
plane. And since will implies freedom, my true 
Will is my emancipation from slavery, and it is 
also (as I have just seen) the power which confers 
the right to rule. My true Will, therefore, becomes 
my Wall of Strength, which I next consider how to 
build. 



CONCLUSION — THE WALL. 79 

(2.) Our word Wall is from the Latin, as well as 
from Saxon, Dutch, etc. In the Saxon it is the 
same word as weal, strength, soundness, etc. The 
Latin vallus is a stake or post, and doubtless the 
wall originally was a palisade of posts. The pri- 
mary sense of vallus is a shoot, suggesting at once 
ray, ear, etc. From this I also see at once hovj to 
build my wall. I must concentrate together rods 
as troops. All my forces, or possessions, I must 
con-centre, as converging lines or rays, so that 
they all meet at a common j)oint. 

And thus to build my wall of Will I must 
acquire the Power of Concentration, 

But before I can do this, and in order to acquire 
the Power of Concentration, I must make the last 
and the greatest oblation of all. Before I can know 
the true "Will I must offer up its contradictory. I 
must resign the linite will with all its finite desires 
before I can know the True. But, manifestly, it is 
utter folly to make this offering before it is mine to 
make, i. e., before I am Free. And since to be 
free I must know how to balance the rod of Justice 
and Mercy, I turn once more to consider again this 
rod. 

Freedom is the point of equilibrium between 
Justice and Mercy. Will is the power of Con-cent- 
er-ing, or of Ray-ing about the Centre, accordingly 



80 CONCLUSION — THE "WALL. 

I discern the very Highest Manifestation of the 
Quarter ni. 

Head. Foot. Centre. Motion. 

Justice: Mercy:: Freedom: Will. 

This proportion expresses the Quarterni of Ray 
evolved to its highest power. And when my 
Soul realizes this perfect Harmony, then I am for- 
ever free from the illusions of birth and death. 
And Will is the Motive force which will propel, 
throughout Eternity, the perfectly balanced rod of 
Justice and Mercy. 

Therefore this Power of Concentering is the last 
and greatest acquirement. Its attainment is the 
great Weal y its lack is the great Woe. To secure it 
is to realize Wholeness, to fail is Chaos and Noth- 
ingness. And in order to attain this great Weal I 
must offer up the oblation of a true High Priest. 
And in order to secure the Perfect Peace of 
Wholeness I must fight the fight of the True War- 
rior. A Warrior capable of bearing and hurling a 
lance. I, therefore, turn to the Staff with which I 
started. This conclusion is, after all, only another 
beginning. The Ray of Light is now my Lance, 
armed with which I continue my spiral and unend- 
ing course in Reality. 



APPENDIX. 



OUTLINE LESSON IN OPTICS. 

I. Refraction. 

Rays of light in passing* obliquely from one 
medium to another are hent (refracted) from their 
course, — the degree of bending (refraction) depend- 
ing upon the density, or rarity of the medium. 

Thus in passing into a medium of greater density 
(e. g., from air to water), rays will be bent towards a 
perpendicular. But in passing from a denser to a 
rarer medium (e. g., from water to air), they will 
be hmt from a perpendicular towards a horizontal. 

(a.) Let A B re- 
present a surface of 
water, then the per- 
pendicular ray D C 
will pass to D E. 
B (*.) But the ob- 
lique ray F C, in- 
stead of passing to 
F I will be bent at 

M 

C and pass to F G, 
or towards the per- 
pendicular. 



H 





* Perpendicular rays pass directly through without being bent. 



82 



APPENDIX. 



(<?.) The oblique ray G in passing from water 
to air (from denser to rarer medium) will be bent 
at C, and instead of passing to G H will be bent to 
G F, or towards the horizontal A B. 

II. Reflection. 




Rays of light falling obliquely upon a polished 
surface are thrown off in a new direction, and the 
angles of contact (incidence) and the angles of 
departure (reflection) are always equal. 

Let A B repre- 
sent a polished sur- 
face, then the per- 
pendicular ray D G 
falling upon this 
surface will be 
- B thro w n directly 
back from C to D. 
But the oblique ray E C will be thrown off in 
the direction C F, and the angle G will equal the 
angle II. 

The more nearly perpendicular the ray E C, the 
more nearly perpendicular will be the ray C F, — or 
again, the more nearly horizontal the ray E C, the 
more nearly horizontal will be the ray C F. Yet 
the angles H and G will always be equal; for the 
size of the angle H implies the size of the angle G, 



APPENDIX. 83 

just as the direction of the ray E C implies the 
direction of the ray C F. 

III. Relation of Refraction to Reflection. 

All oblique rays of light, in passing into our 
atmosphere must be more or less bent before they 
reach reflecting surfaces, and must therefore, be 
Refracted, or Incident Rays before they can be 
Reflected Rays. 

And since Reflected rays and angles depend upon 
Incident rays and angles, it directly follows that 
the relation of Refraction to Reflection is that of 
cause to effect, of action to re-action, or in other 
words, Refraction and Reflection are polar opposites 
which mutually imply each other. 

Every direct and true Refraction implies an 
inverted Reflection, and the existence of the one 
proves the existence of the other. 

Sight, Heat, Sound, Motion and Thought are all 
manifested through Refraction and Reflection. 



i t> j 



Questions. 

1. How are rays of light bent % 

2. How are rays of light bent in passing into a 
medium of greater density \ 

3. Plow are they bent on passing into a rarer 
medium ? 



84 



APPENDIX. 



4. How are rays of light thrown off from a 
polished surface ? 

5. What are angles of Incidence and Eeflection ? 

6. How are they always equal ? 

7. What is the relation of Refraction to Reflec- 
tion? — Give the reason w T hy. 



LESSON I.— THE STAFF. 

Questions. 

1. What is the Supreme Reality of the Universe ; 
and how illustrated in its unity and duality by mind 
and thoughts? 

2. How is the unity and duality of a luminous 
body (e. g., the sun) illustrated by sun and rays ? 

3. Illustrate the unity and duality of the staff, or, 
rod of light ? 

4. How is the trinity comprised in the rod? 
How in the sun ? How in the mind ? 

5. What is the relation of motion to the staff, to 
the luminous body, and to mind ? 

6. What is the Quarterni of the staff ? 

7. Of this Quarterni which represents terrestrial 
dualism, and which celestial dualism ? 



APPENDIX. 85 

8. What is the Quarterni of a luminous body, 
e. g., the sun? 

9. Of this Quarterni which represents terrestial, 
and which celestial dualism ? 

10. What is the Quarterni of mind ? 

11. Of this Quarterni which represents terres- 
trial and which celestial dualism ? 

12. What does the rod symbolize? 

LESSON II.— RAY-MENT— VISIBLE. 

Questions. 

1. What is Refraction of light ? 

2. What is Reflection of light ? 

3. What is the relation of Refraction to Reflec- 
tion? 

4. How do Refraction, Reflection, and point of 
equilibrium correspond to the staff i 

5. What is the relation of a terrestrial to a celes- 
tial body ? 

6. What is the four-fold formation of body ? 

7. How do the four elements of body correspond 
to the Quarterni as expressed in the staff \ 



86 APPENDIX. 

LESSON III.— RAY-MENT— AUDIBLE. 

Questions. 

1. What are the Visible Numerals? 

2. How are they used in drawing, and in measur- 
ing? 

3. What do they symbolize ? 

4. What are the Invisible Numerals ? 

5. How are they used in counting ? 

6. What do the odd numbers symbolize, and 
what do the even numbers symbolize ? 

7. What is the relation of counting to measur- 
ing ? 

LESSON IV.— RAY-MENT— TANGIBLE. 

Questions. 

1. How are touch, sight and sound all forms of 
Resistance ? 

2. How do numbers express Resistance, and how 
can Resistance be overcome ? 

3. What is the relation of touch to the other 
forms of Resistance f 

4. What must be the nature of the Interior 
three-fold sense of Resistance ? 



APPENDIX. 87 

5. What is the meaning and purpose of this 
Interior sense? 

6. How is it developed and realized ? 

7. How is sensation elevated to Thought % 

LESSON V.— FOOD— HUNGER. 

Questions. 

1. What is the relation of desire to body, and to 
finite mind ? 

2. What is the distinction between ex-oteric and 
es-oteric desire ? 

3. What is Idolatry \ 

4. What is the penalty of Idolatry ? 

5. What is the distinction between reflected and 
true ego % 

6. How is the true ego clothed and fed ? 

7. How must the true ego obtain its final eman- 
cipation from birth and death ? 

LESSON VI— POOD— EATING. 

Questions. 

1. How must finite action, from its nature, be 
contradictory ? 

2. Why is finite action, Passion \ 



00 APPENDIX. 

3. How is finite action, Oblation ? 

4. What is the nature of exoteric Oblation ? 

5. What is the nature of esoteric Oblation ? 

6. What is the significance of the myth of 
Saturn ? 

7. How does the true ego and its offspring 
become one ? 

LESSON VII— FOOD— ASSIMILATING. 

Questions. 

1. How is physical food assimilated? 

2. How is mental food assimilated \ 

3. What is the relation of external word to men- 
ial picture ? 

4. What is the Quarterni of word ? 

5. What is the relation of refracted word to 
reflected word ? 

6. What is assimilation on the part of the true 
ego ? 

7. How does this assimilation give power to rule 
words ? 



APPENDIX. 89 

LESSON VIII— HOUSE— PROPORTION. 

Questions. 

1. What is the relation of House to Ray-merit ? 

2. What is the relation of Proportion to the 
Visible ? 

3. What is exoteric Proportion ? 

4. What is esoteric Proportion ? 

5. How is Proportion a statement of the problem 
of the Soul ? 

6. How is Proportion a solution of the problem 
of the Soul ? 

7. What is the relation of Knowledge to Faith ? 

LESSON IX— HOUSE— DOOR. 

Questions. 

1. What is Doubt? 

2. What is Determination ? 

3. What is Door ? 

4. What is the relation of Doubt, Determina- 
tion and Door to each other ? 

5. What is the relation of Door to Proportion i 

6. Describe the two forms of Consciousness \ 

7. What is their relation to color and sound \ 



90 APPENDIX. 

LESSON X.— HOUSE— HEARTH. 

Questions. 

1. What does Hearth symbolize on the reflected 
plane ? 

2. What does it symbolize on the refracted plane ? 

3. What is symbolized in the relation between 
Hearth and Door? 

-L What are the two forms of Resistance ? 

5. How is true Resistance, Prayer ? 

6. What is the relation of the true E«;o to the 
Infinite Mind ? 

7. What is the relation of Night consciousness 
to Day consciousness ? 

LESSON XL— HEARTH-FIRE-RAY. 

Questions. 

1. How is Motion, Raying? 

2. What are the two forms of Raying, and what 
their relation to each other ? 

3. How is the Ray also Prism, and what results 
from the equilibrium between Ray and Prism ? 

4. How is the visible universe a universal lan- 
guage on the plane of sensation ? 



APPENDIX. 91 

5. How is it a drama on the plane of finite mind \ 

6. How is consciousness an actor learning its - 
part ? 

7. What must be the true refracted and celestial 
Drama, and how must Consciousness learn and act 
its part in this larger Drama 2 

LESSON XII.— HEARTH-FIRE— IMAGES. 

Questions. 

1. What are Images? 

2. How are they manifested % 

3. Why are they manifested ? 

4. How must we sacrifice to Images ? 

5. Why must we sacrifice to Images ? 

6. What is Memory ? 

7. What is the relation of the Soul to Memory, 
to Time, and to Eternity ? 

LESSON XIIL— HEARTH-FIRE— LAW. 

Questions. 

1. What is the distinction between the two forms 
of Opposites? 

2. How is this distinction an absolute Necessity 
to spiritual insight ? 



92 APPENDIX. 

3. How do the Twist, the Torch, and the Scissors 
illustrate the Law? 

4. How is the Law of Contradictories the Law of 
Manifestation ? 

5. How is it the Law of Communication ? 

6. How is it the Law of Healing? 

7. How is Healing, in its turn, the Supreme 
Word of the Universe ? 

LESSON XIV.— CONCLUSION— THE WALL. 

Questions. 

1. How does Freedom imply Will? 

2. How does the perfect equilibrium between 
Justice and Mercy imply Freedom ? 

3. How is Will, Wall ? 

4. How is the Wall, Power of Concentration ? 

5. What is the Quarterni of Scepter ? 

6. What is the Beginning and End of lieality ? 



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